Football: St. Joseph (Mont.) holds off St. Peter's Prep, 21-10

St. Joseph quarterback Spencer Aukamp scrambles during his team's 21-10 victory over St. Peter's Prep on Saturday in Montvale. (Jennifer Brown/The Star-Ledger)

The thud from pads colliding could be heard from the bleachers, and it became apparent early that this game would be decided more so by which team could maintain this grinding pace for four quarters than which coach came up with a better game plan.

This is the type of game relished by linebacker Mark Fossati, who combined with defensive lineman Anthony Paolello to lead an aggressive defense, while Marcus Jemison and Brion Wynn ran for second-half touchdowns to carry St. Joseph of Montvale, No. 2 in The Star-Ledger Top 20, to a 21-10 victory over No. 4 St. Peter's Prep on Saturday in Montvale.

"Our defense definitely came to play," said Fossati, who led the team with nine tackles. "Our offense came out slow in the first half and St. Peter's was putting a lot of pressure on us, but in the second half we proved we could stop the run with me and Dominic (Carfagno) in the 'nest.' We got our secondary forcing a lot of coverage sacks with (Tyler) Zoltowski, Troy (Kay) and Anthony putting so much pressure and speed on them."

St. Joseph recorded seven sacks in the game, with Paolello contributing two and Kay and Matthew Buckman adding 1 1/2 apiece. Fossati and Carfagno led a front seven that allowed only 189 yards in the game, including 39 to go with just two first downs in the second half.

The defense was only on the field for 14 plays in the second half because the offense controlled the ball behind the clutch passing of Spencer Aukamp, who finished 7-for-14 for 110 yards, and the running of Wynn and Jemison, who combined to rush for 90 yards on 19 carries in the second half.

Both players are a part of a stable of backs St. Joseph must look to with leading rusher Jeff Farina out for the season with a foot injury.

St. Joseph trailed, 10-7, before opening the second half with a nine-play, 85-yard drive in which Aukamp hit Ricky Jeune with three passes, including a 38-yarder that set up a 4-yard TD run by Wynn.

St. Joseph started its next three drives in St. Peter's territory and finally capitalized on the last of those possessions when Jemison scored on a 9-yard run to make it an 11-point game with 7:44 left in the fourth quarter.

St. Peter's drove to the opposing 26 on its next possession, but Quai Jefferson intercepted a pass in the end zone and St. Joesph ran out the final 6:45.

"In the second half, they didn't make any scheme adjustments. Honestly, they put pressure with four guys up front and disrupted our read progressions with the quarterback and that was really the game for us," St. Peter's Prep coach Rich Hansen said. "We gave them great field position and the defense came up solid. You have to play effective on all three sides for four quarters to beat them."

Jonathan Hilliman ran hard for 56 yards in the first half and scored on a 3-yard run in the first quarter to give St. Peter's a 7-0 lead. The TD was set up by a 68-yard pass from Michael Rabasca to Corey Caddle, who had four catches for 121 yards.

Jemison tied the game with a 3-yard run in the second quarter, but St. Peter's came back with a 10-play drive to end the half, capped off by a 37-yard field goal from Henrique Ribero.